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Effects of plant functional group loss on alpine meadows community structure and soil nutrients over various timescales
  • +10
  • Jing Wei,
  • Huakun Zhou,
  • Xinqing Shao,
  • Jian Sun,
  • Li Ma,
  • Zhong Zhang,
  • Rui Qin,
  • hong Su,
  • xue Hu,
  • tao Chang,
  • Zheng Shi,
  • Ha Ade,
  • Hui Wang
Huakun Zhou
Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology Chinese Academy of Sciences

Corresponding Author:hkzhou@nwipb.cas.cn

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Xinqing Shao
China Agricultural University
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Jian Sun
Inst. of Tibetan Plateau Res., Chinese, Academy of Sci
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Zhong Zhang
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Abstract

In the Alpine Meadow ecosystems of eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the interrelations among the species diversity of different vegetation communities, productivity, community structure as well as soil nutrients were thoroughly researched through running biodiversity manipulation experiment to explore the species survey consequences of 3 and 10 years of plant functional groups (Gramineae, Cyperaceae, Legumes, and other Forbs) removal at Haibei station. The results demonstrated that the interannual variation of the remaining species richness, above-ground and below-ground biomass of the community gradually presented a tendency to decrease as the removal time increased, and there was a positive relationship between species richness and productivity, and the correlation became increasingly significant. The removal behavior reduced the number of Gramineae within the remaining community. The content of soil total nitrogen, phosphorus, organic matter and moisture content of Legumes loss treatment increased significantly. The treatment that removal Forb had the lowest negative cohesion values, revealing that it is difficulty for this community to recover to the previous equilibrium state in a short time. In our study, all affects of species removal on ecosystem may be related to variance in the structure and composition of species in community. Meanwhile, changes in the number of Gramineae indicated that Gramineae are more sensitive and less resistant to removal behavior. Furthermore, the specific performance of Legumes removal indirectly indicates that the loss of diverse plant function groups prompted distinct replies to the starvation and compensation effects. In a nutshell, species loss at the community level leads to shifts in the niche of each species, inducing a redistribution of community resources and leading to significant changes in community structure.